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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:42 pm 
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I’ve watched every game and our Ramblers are beating themselves more so than the competition is beating us. Turnovers and fouls. We can expect the press every game cuz word is out that we’ll turn it over.
Among everything else we need to get some dunks off the press or it will keep on coming.
There are winnable games on our schedule if we cleanup our own act.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:52 pm 
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Surprised no minutes for Jayden. I think he has looked the best of the freshmen. Jalen has a ton of potential, but he has absolutely no answer for VCU's pressure. He and Schweiger were basically handing the ball to VCU defenders on a platter.

Not sure where we go from here. There are so many things to fix.

-Really begins with fixing the turnovers. How? Who knows. Slow it down and play oxen ball? Hold the ball for 25 seconds at the half court line and then pass it once and chuck it up at the hoop? Really at a loss.
-Free throw shooting. Kennedy was 1-6 from the stripe today. We haven't really had a 'great' FT shooting game. That's inexcusable at this level.
-Backdoor cuts. Other guys are just faster than Schweiger, Braden, Welch, etc. It's so disheartening to watch the easy buckets after the defense LU has had the past 5 years.
-Coaching. So many games where we have just fallen flat on our faces to begin the 2nd half. Something needs to change in the locker room at half. Teams just pounce on us.

There's a million other things. But today's game really reminded me of the first season in the MVC vs teams like Bradley & ISUr. Hearing VCU fans cheer loud and clear through the TV while a winless in conference LU team was getting run out of its own gym by double digits. I know the students weren't there, which certainly makes a difference.

Could go on and on and on. But the turnovers (and, to a slightly lesser extent, the dumb fouls) just NEED to be cleaned up or we will be lucky to win more than two or three games in conference.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 11:12 pm 
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Speed, length, vertical, strength, and wingspan are all at a higher level in the A10. You can get away with players who lack speed/athleticism (if they can shoot or take up space in the lane) at one or two positions in the MVC, you can't in the A10. And the officiating seems to cater to that difference from what I've seen.

Really fun to see Ace Baldwin (the guy who missed 5 games in November to have a screw installed in his wrist) play until the final buzzer with a 14 point lead.... I guess he wanted to be on the court at the end so he could seek out and taunt the Loyola fan in the stands who called him "a mosquito" (don't know what he meant). Lots of taunting from the VCU players (and their 120-200 fans in the crowd). Similarities to Wichita State... indeed.

Really, really, really disappointed in our lack of preparation for this game.... in the preview I said keep them off the line, and we sent them there 36 times, 2nd highest of the season. VCU made 19 more free throws attempts than we did, sank 14 more than we did, and won by 14. In the preview I said take care of the ball and win the turnover battle, and VCU had their 3rd lowest turnover total on the year while we coughed it up 22 times. Come on, guys, seriously. I have a simplistic understanding of the game compared to the coaching staff, but it's clear what you need to do to beat VCU. They're a team that's 0-3 on the road, 1-4 away from home, and their 100-200 fans ended up chanting and taunting us in our own building? When is anyone going to have any self respect or respect for the program?

Phil Alston, once again with foul issues that kept him from getting going. He had his first foul 75 seconds into the game, and they took him out at the next dead ball. Brought him back at 13:58, and he got his 2nd foul at 9:21 which took him out for almost all the rest of the half without scoring. Our most explosive offensive player...I think this is the third game in conference play where Alston got his first foul before the under 16 time out.

Good game by Tom Welch. Nice minutes by Wilson. Schweiger.... need his offense, athleticism, and aggressiveness, but man those turnovers. Edwards played better than the last few times I saw him. Won the rebounding battle (partly because VCU shot 57%), and showed a little fight at the end. But man, we're bad and not getting better.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 11:25 pm 
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Thoughts

1. I believe this is the 4th straight conference game we were down 3 at the half that got ugly in the second half. We are not making any adjustments at the half.

2. Our offense is fine. It's actually pretty efficient when we actually get shots up. Problem is the TOs. Saw a stat when I got home that showed we had 35 possessions in 1st half. We had 15 TOs in the first have. In the 20 possessions where we did not have a TO we scored 32 points. I have no idea why we don't value the ball more. We were shooting 60% in first half. If we had half the TOs, we would have been winning at halftime. At one the points off TOs was 32 to1 in favor if VCU!

3. Fouls. They shot 39 FTs to our 17. VCU made 26 FT. Quite honestly, we did foul quite a bit. However, VCU fouled us as well and the refs really didn't blow the whistle till the game was out of hand. We need to understand we are the new kids in A10 and we aren't going to get the benefit, especially since we are not very goid right now. The glaring difference stat wise in the game, FT discrepancy.

4. So beside getting beat backdoor a lot, we are not staying vertical and reaching for the lights. Cut the clips of every foul and have a film session. Same with TOs. Start demanding better.

5. Wilson played well, why did it take so long for him to get minutes?

6. Interesting incident on the bench. At one point we were in foul trouble and it looked like Drew was going to put Saint Thomas in the game and he refused. It appeared Drew had some sharp comments to Saint. One of the Coaches ended up going over and speaking to Saint. Now, Saint has no reason to be upset . He started for a while. He didn't produce and went to the bench. He did not produce off the bench and last two games he didn't play. His diminishing PT is the result of his play. Now, if I am Drew and he refused to enter game , if I read the situation right, I would advise him to get in the transfer portal and I would dismiss him frim the team. You can't have players who are not buying in. They become cancers

Frustrating season. My goal was to see this team claw its way back to. 500. It does not look like they can.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:02 am 
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Wilson did look decent. He might be a bit rusty from lack of playing time, but I think he can add some size/length.

Interesting about Saint. I think we all had high hopes for him, but unfortunately, he doesn't seem to do any one thing particularly well. He has the size but not the physicality. He has the confidence but not a good shot. Would rather see Dawson than Saint going forward.

Miles Rubin will be a much needed rim protector. Hopefully we can hold on to his commitment. I think he could be day one contributor.

Know there will be plenty of time to discuss this, but I am curious who comes back next year. I think Alston does. But what about about Braden and Quise?


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:41 am 
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Mudville21 wrote:

6. Interesting incident on the bench. At one point we were in foul trouble and it looked like Drew was going to put Saint Thomas in the game and he refused. It appeared Drew had some sharp comments to Saint. One of the Coaches ended up going over and speaking to Saint. Now, Saint has no reason to be upset . He started for a while. He didn't produce and went to the bench. He did not produce off the bench and last two games he didn't play. His diminishing PT is the result of his play. Now, if I am Drew and he refused to enter game , if I read the situation right, I would advise him to get in the transfer portal and I would dismiss him frim the team. You can't have players who are not buying in. They become cancers



I sit right behind the water coolers. Exactly what I saw and overheard as well. Heard a few not so nice words from coach to Saint. Hutty was caught in the middle between them during that exchange. His was a face of shock. Couldn't believe it..... I get coach being pissed off. Yes, challenge and motivate them, but don't throw under the bus in the middle of a game with a tantrum and a lot of F-bombs. Do behind closed doors. No need for further embarrassment beyond the stats and score.... The professionalism is absent.

After that, I was more interested in paying attention to the dynamics and interactions of the staff and bench. Glad I had something to observe. I have never seen the coaching staff look more drained or flustered. Zero answers. Awful body language. Should make you wonder what their roles or contributions are to be? Every losing minute should be a teaching moment, you'd hope.

Disaster.

Our best memory of Saint this year was the guy on Davidson blowing past him for a dunk. OOOF........


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:06 am 
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After reading the last post...thought this might be interesting to see...Coach looks drained and frustrated...this is a young new team, maybe the whip is the wrong approach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQxhMgGoAU


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:12 am 
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Regarding the transfer portal -- would certainly hope Braden and Kennedy want to stay, but if they see no light at the end of the tunnel, I could understand them wanting to finish their careers on a winner. I'm not sure if they have a better shot at starting on a winning team than here, but if the wheels are truly falling off, then who knows.

Drew's postgame comments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQxhMgGoAU) were kind of pathetic IMO. He puts all the blame on the players for not playing hard enough. Maybe the Saint thing has something to do with it, but ultimately Drew needs to take public ownership of the team failing.

With the turnovers, the worst part is they are generally not playmaking turnovers, but just basic ball possession. At this point we know we will always get pressed -- how are we still getting 10 second violations? We also had a ton of turnovers from double-teams coming off dribble-handoffs, and never adjusted. I think we had one open layup off of it, but that was a fluke.

We never made adjustments in the second half for these, while VCU came out and dissected our defense in the second half. You could even see when we switched our zone in, VCU knew exactly what to do and methodically worked a wide open layup. When we were in man they got got the switches they wanted and took our foul-trouble guys to the hoop with ease.

Drew's plays coming out of timeouts are always disasters -- not a good sign for a coach. I'm close to no-confidence on Drew, sad to say. He seems like a good recruiter who is completely overmatched as a HC, and even as a "player's coach" it looks like he has lost the team. Hopefully he can turn it around, because in the transfer portal era this is the kind of situation that can snowball quickly...


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:14 am 
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natetheskate wrote:
After reading the last post...thought this might be interesting to see...Coach looks drained and frustrated...this is a young new team, maybe the whip is the wrong approach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQxhMgGoAU


That was tough to listen to.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:20 am 
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RamblerRagas wrote:
Mudville21 wrote:

6. Interesting incident on the bench. At one point we were in foul trouble and it looked like Drew was going to put Saint Thomas in the game and he refused. It appeared Drew had some sharp comments to Saint. One of the Coaches ended up going over and speaking to Saint. Now, Saint has no reason to be upset . He started for a while. He didn't produce and went to the bench. He did not produce off the bench and last two games he didn't play. His diminishing PT is the result of his play. Now, if I am Drew and he refused to enter game , if I read the situation right, I would advise him to get in the transfer portal and I would dismiss him frim the team. You can't have players who are not buying in. They become cancers



I sit right behind the water coolers. Exactly what I saw and overheard as well. Heard a few not so nice words from coach to Saint. Hutty was caught in the middle between them during that exchange. His was a face of shock. Couldn't believe it..... I get coach being pissed off. Yes, challenge and motivate them, but don't throw under the bus in the middle of a game with a tantrum and a lot of F-bombs. Do behind closed doors. No need for further embarrassment beyond the stats and score.... The professionalism is absent.

After that, I was more interested in paying attention to the dynamics and interactions of the staff and bench. Glad I had something to observe. I have never seen the coaching staff look more drained or flustered. Zero answers. Awful body language. Should make you wonder what their roles or contributions are to be? Every losing minute should be a teaching moment, you'd hope.

Disaster.

Our best memory of Saint this year was the guy on Davidson blowing past him for a dunk. OOOF........


What was the sequence of events? Saint refusing to go in and then Drew's not-so-nice words? Or vice versa? I agree generally that the team is already embarrassing enough, we don't need our coaching staff loudly dropping f-bombs at players for the whole arena to hear (one was even picked up on TV), but if a player refuses to go into the game, he does deserve to be chewed out and maybe even dismissed.

This whole thing is pretty depressing. Energy is zapped. Players and coaches are frustrated, exhausted and seem to lack the 'fight' when the going gets tough. Not sure where they go from here, but when we are talking about players refusing to go in and possible transfers/dismissals, this really has a chance to snowball and get ugly. Not looking forward to SLU and Dayton fans taking over Gentile and beating us by 20+.


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